Senior Liturgy

A virtual Senior Liturgy will be broadcast on the Prep’s YouTube channel for our seniors and their families on Tuesday, May 19th at 5:00 p.m. The liturgy is being organized by the Campus Ministry staff and a committee of seniors. It will include student readers, student musicians, and a reflection from a member of the senior class. The following are some suggestions for ways families can engage this liturgy together:

Plan a special family meal for after the liturgy

Consider planning a post Mass reception on Zoom or FaceTime with some of your close Prep friends and their families

Take a photo of your family watching the Mass and sharing a meal and email to engagement@fordhamprep.org for sharing on our social media platforms

Senior Retreat

During the week of May 18, Campus Ministry is offering an opportunity for all seniors to take a few moments each day to take a step back, reflect on their lives, pray and share. Content and prayer(15-30 min a day) can be done on your own time. Sharing will take place via Zoom, led by Campus Ministry. The retreat is designed to help you stay connected and grounded as you enter this time of transition. Sign up here.

Junior Convocation Liturgy

On Sunday, May 17 we will broadcast our Junior Convocation Liturgy at 11:00 a.m. through Fordham Prep’s YouTube Channel. For all juniors and their families, this liturgy celebrates the increasing leadership of the Class of 2021. At this event, we also recognize a member of the class with the annual John Haley ’87 “Man for Others” Award, given to a junior who demonstrates servant leadership to his community, family, and the Prep. The award includes a $1500 scholarship toward tuition in senior year.

Living In Faith Podcast

Our weekly podcast shares insights and reflections from members of the Prep community on how to live in faith during these troubled times. Listenhere.

Pray the Rosary during the Month of May

Pope Francis has said, "contemplating the face of Christ with the heart of Mary our Mother will make us even more united as a spiritual family and will help us overcome this time of trial." The Campus Ministry team invites everyone in the Fordham Prep community to pray the rosary every day during the month of May, which is dedicated to Mary. We will also have a live online recitation at least once a week throughout the month. More info on Instagram @fpministry Guide to Praying the Rosary

Easter Season Sunday Gospel Reflections

Each Sunday, a member of the Prep community shares a reflection on the Gospel. These post-resurrection accounts, which inspire faith and hope, are perhaps needed more than ever during these difficult times.

Sunday, May 23, reflection on John 17:1-11 by Fr. Ray Sweitzer, SJVideo Reflection

Soulful Suffering- An Online Class for adults

Suffering can awaken within us compassion and deeper experience of God. Suffering also has the potential to cause us to withdraw, deny, and cause pain to others. Our presentations and discussion will explore ways to simply “be” with deep suffering so as to cooperate with God's transforming grace. The class will take place over zoom each Wednesday evening in May from 7-8pm. Register here.

WEDNESDAY MORNING PRAYER WITH ST. IGNATIUS FOR PARENTS

Held in the Prep Chapel each Wednesday at 8:45 AM, this program invites parents to pray in the Ignatian tradition. Each 10-15 minute session introduces participants to an Ignatian form of prayer, including the Examen, gospel contemplation and Lectio Divina. We will continue this program through a video prayer recorded from our Chapel that will be posted at www.fordhamprep.org/wednesdayprayer each Wednesday morning.

Morning Prayer and Weekly Examen

As we do during the school year, a daily prayer will be emailed each morning to faculty, staff, parents and students. We will also continue to have our Friday morning Examen through email. Some of those prayers may include video and/or audio recordings.

Mr. Kravatz, Director of Campus Ministry, has created a "virtual prayer intention book," similar to our Community Book of Prayer Intentions outside of the Prep Chapel. You can add an intention here.

Campus Ministry is also assembling a "Prayer Team" to pray for the intentions of the Fordham Prep Community. If you would like to assist us in praying for the Prep Community's intentions, please complete this form.

Lenten Mission Drive

Each year our annual Lenten Mission Drive benefits two Jesuit Schools in Micronesia- Xavier High School and Yap Catholic High School. Xavier and YAP provide an outstanding education for kids who otherwise would have little opportunity for a quality education. Our support through the Lenten Drive each year helps to make that possible. The need is particularly great this year as they have been experiencing severe drought in the region. Fr. Denis Baker, SJ recently shared this message about the situation.

Mite boxes are normally available in classrooms and outside the Ministry Center throughout Lent. If you would still like to donate toward this year’s drive, you can do so at www.fordhamprep.org/lentenmission

Ministry Leadership Team

For sophomores, juniors and seniors on the Ministry Leadership team, Mr. Kravatz and Dr. Smith will set up virtual weekly check-ins and prayer opportunities to support these students in their continued spiritual formation.

ADDITIONAL PRAYER RESOURCES

Pope Francis - Urbi et Orbi:On Friday, March 27th, Pope Francis gave an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing (to the city and to the world) at St. Peter's Basilica while praying for an end of the coronavirus. videofull text of his address.

Resources from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops including prayers and online masses. Click here

Daily Breviary Prayers from Mr. FedakThe Breviary is the official set of prayers marking the hours of each day and and sanctifying the day with prayer. It consists primarily of psalms supplemented by hymns, readings, and other prayer antiphons. Together with the Mass, it constitutes the official public prayer life of the Church. On this channel, you will find twice-daily postings from the Breviary: the Morning and Evening Prayers. On Sundays, the entirety of the Divine Office will be posted: Office of Readings, Morning, Daytime, Evening, Nighttime Prayers. Please feel free to view as a 10-15 minute escape from the business of a normal day to find some quiet time with God. PRAYERS

Service Opportunities

While we have suspended all service activities that require face to face interaction, Mr. Homer, the Director of Christian Service, has reached out to our partner agencies to see how we might continue to be of service from a distance. We have created a spreadsheet with suggested service activities along with specific requests from agencies. We will update this form as additional requests as we become aware of them.

Many of us in the Fordham Prep community are concerned about friends and members of our community impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. Few have been hit harder than those in the hospitality industry and caregivers—doctors and nurses—who work in hospital emergency rooms on the front lines of this crisis. Our community is blessed to count David Greco P ’15 (owner of Mike’s Deli in the Arthur Avenue Retail Market) and Dr. Ernest Patti P ’20 (Senior Physician of Emergency Medicine at St. Barnabas) among these friends. Both Mike's Deli and St. Barnabas Hospital have always been generous and caring neighbors to Fordham Prep. These days, however, the ER workers need our help as they work double shifts at great risk to their own health. Fordham Prep has partnered with Mike's Deli to ensure that the staff at SBH is well-nourished and ready to help the community in and around Fordham Prep. School president Fr. Christopher Devron, SJ personally sponsored the first lunch meal (3/27/2020).

This pandemic is clearly a time that has pushed people to the margins. And though they may be isolated, there are creative ways we can make connections. With that in mind, we invite members of the Prep community to consider reaching out to our neighbors in elderly residences who are in lockdown at this point. We have received the names of residents in three facilities—Rosehill Apartments, which is outside the Prep’s back gate, Willow Towers in New Rochelle, and Murray Weigel, the Jesuit infirmary on campus. The activities directors in both facilities have been so impressed with our gifts of holiday crafts and Valentine’s Day cards in the past that they are now asking if we would consider sending a birthday card, a note, or a picture to brighten the lives of their residents.